1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to forceps for sealing various types of tissue. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to open, laparoscopic or endoscopic forceps for tissue sealing that utilize microwave energy to determine completeness of the tissue seal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many surgical procedures, body vessels, e.g., blood vessels, ducts, adhesions, fallopian tubes, etc. are sealed to defunctionalize or close the vessel. Traditionally, staples, clips or sutures have been used to close a body vessel. However, these traditional procedures often leave foreign body material inside a patient. In an effort to reduce foreign body material left within the patient and to more effectively seal the body vessel, energy techniques that seal by heat processes have been employed.
A forceps is particularly useful for sealing tissue and vessels since forceps utilizes mechanical action to constrict, grasp, dissect and/or clamp tissue. Current vessel sealing procedures utilize a unique combination of pressure, gap control and energy to close and seal tissue and body vessels. The combination of heating and applied pressure provides a uniform, controllable seal with minimum collateral damage to body tissue.